


A Tale Of A Dark Night

by ann_jay009, BlueCaty, saucytuggles



Category: Midnight Poppy Land (Webcomic)
Genre: Drama, Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, Life Choices, Regret, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28271907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ann_jay009/pseuds/ann_jay009, https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueCaty/pseuds/BlueCaty, https://archiveofourown.org/users/saucytuggles/pseuds/saucytuggles
Summary: AU story - After Tora left Poppy to protect her, his choice haunts both of them.
Relationships: Tora/Poppy Wilkes
Comments: 24
Kudos: 51





	1. By BlueCaty

**Author's Note:**

> Lilydusk's guidelines for Fan Creations:
> 
> Fanwork creator is free to create any kinds of fan creations and share them on any public or private platform as long as the creator acknowledges that:  
> 1\. No profit is to be made from fan creation.  
> 2\. Any resemblance that the original piece bears to fan creation is coincidental and unintentional,  
> 3\. Fan creation is to be a transformative work, derived from a single idea, a single sketch, or a small percentage of the original piece.

Another damn night in which sleep eluded him. It was late, those small hours of the night when everything stills and the breath of the big city slows down. Snow fell the day before. But the tumult of life bursting on the crowded streets melted it, transforming it into muddy puddles on the sidewalk, stripping the beauty out of it. 

His boots sloshed relentlessly through the dirty sludge, his legs carrying him by their own volition through the now empty streets. An icy wind made him raise the collar of his coat, before sticking his hands deep in his pockets. He passed a neon-lighted 24-hour grocery store, a newspaper stand, and a few drunken men coming out of a pub. Their singing voices faded, as he turned the corner. 

All dressed in black, boots, jeans, and coat, with his long hair loose around his face, he could pass for a shadow around these parts of the city. He walked a few blocks until he found himself on narrow, lightless streets. A poorer neighborhood, but a familiar one. 

An eerie feeling overcame him. He couldn’t remember where he left his car or why was he here. But he knew he had to be here, to reach this particular place, this closed door, this dark window, this dangling yellow lantern, this plastic cherry tree. The only light on that street, the dimly lit lantern, moved at the whim of the winter wind. Alice was not here. A sliver of thought whispered in his mind.

_Alice hasn’t been here in a long time._

He approached the window and pressed his face to the glass, his hands clasped on either side of it, peering inside. Through the darkness, he thought he saw a small flicker. A candle on the table. Next to it, two silhouettes sat on the chairs, their back turned to him and to the light source. One of them looked like a very large man, with strong muscular arms, his shirt rolled up to his elbows. He was embracing a smaller figure, a scrawny boy, not small enough to be a child, but not yet a man either. They looked like an old forgotten photograph, an old memory belonging to someone else inside his mind.

_Always a choice. Not yet your own to make, but soon. Hang on to this, to this pain and its meaning, draw it on your skin so you’ll never forget it. Know what you want to be in this life. And always choose the road that takes you there. You will falter, you will weep, and you will fall. But rise again. Choose again. You’ll be hated, and feared, and used. You’ll make mistakes. You’ll be alone. Choose again. Until you feel it. Until you find it._

_Love will save you, son. But first, you’ll have to save yourself._

He took a step back, cold shivers running up and down his spine. His breath was coming out in gasps, foggy and warm, steaming the glass in front of him. He felt a sudden urge to flee this deserted place. What was he doing here anyway? How many nights in a row had he lost to insomnia already? Too many. He wanted to go back home and crawl under the blanket on the floor. To clench the gun under his pillow and shut his eyes so tight that his eyelids bled. If only sleep would come. He had done what he had to do. But what if all his choices were wrong? 

“It’s not too late, Tora.” 

His heart skipped a beat at the sound of her voice. A painful pressure contracted his chest, unbidden tears stung his eyes. He froze on the spot, didn’t dare to turn around. And see nothing. This was not possible. She couldn’t be here. Not after all he had done. Strangled words escaped him. 

“What do ya want, sweetheart?”

The endearing name quivered on his lips. He yearned for her with desperation. To see her smile, to hold her in his arms, to kiss her again, to feel her hand into his own. Everything he did, he did for her. If she could not see it, it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t have changed anything.

“You left me.” 

The sadness in her voice broke him. Willing his body to move, he turned around. Poppy was standing in the middle of the street, the dim light of the lantern illuminating her face. She was there, big eyes and rosy cheeks, tangled hair caressed by the icy wind. He wanted to touch her. To have his fingers brush her hair, to have his mouth touch her lips, to convince himself she wanted him back. 

She stepped closer, watching him. He felt powerless under the tenderness of her gaze. She still cared for him. He could almost smell her perfume. 

“Bobby…”

She reached up to him and tucked his hair behind the ear. 

He couldn’t take it anymore. He drew her into his chest, embracing her tightly, longing to feel her warmth, to mold himself over the softness of her body. If only she would have him once again. Tears spilled freely down his cheeks, falling into her hair as he leaned to kiss the crown of her head. For a moment, they were one. A single shadow, on an empty street, frozen in time. 

“Please Bobby...Forgive me. I only wanted to protect ya. I’ve always been yours, always will be.”

“Of all those who left me in this life, you were the one that took my soul with you. Give it back. Where are you now, Tora? Come back to me…” 

“What do ya mean? I’m right here…” 

He cradled her face and tilted her head back, to look at her, to tell her how wrong he was and how much he missed her, but the words died in his throat. A sense of dread overtook his senses at the sight of her, crying tears of blood. He could not breathe anymore, he could not move. Her eyes were empty, wells of darkness, her beautiful face cracked like a marble statue. 

He watched with horror as his hands turned red, covered in her blood. Paralyzed. She crumbled into fine dust, slipping through his fingers, blown away by the wind. He grasped at the air, as his soul flew out of his body after her, the woman he loved, a phantasm. He felt his breath return to him, his mouth contorted in a soundless, painful scream. 

“POPPY!!!!” 

The scream bounced on the concrete walls, echoing inside of him. A desperate roar of a wounded beast inside the hollow carcass of a man. Drenched in cold sweat his body hurt everywhere as if he had been beaten to a pulp. If only. 

Waking from the nightmare left him breathless. He leaned against his couch and ran a hand through his hair. The vision of her still haunted his dreams. 

He rubbed the tiny plastic strawberry on his wrist between his fingers like a prayer bead. It was old, the paint was almost gone. 

“Forgive me, Bobby.”


	2. By Saucytuggles

Tora padded to the kitchen for a drink of water. 

_What a fucking night._

He returned to the couch, threw his head back. Pictures from the dream swam behind his tired eyelids, emerging from his threadbare memories of Joe. So many years ago. Joe had been his touchstone, strong and stern and generous. Tora counted on Joe, he never felt afraid around Joe. Tears stung his eyes. It hurt to even think of him, big and fierce and alive. 

But that wasn’t even the worst part of the dream. Tora shuddered at the memory of Poppy cracking, crumbling to dust, streaming out of his fingers. 

_“It’s not too late, Tora.”_

Most dreams fade, why did this one only get clearer, sharper, as the minutes ticked by? 

He looked at the clock. Too early to head out, too late to go back to sleep. Tora grabbed a towel and was heading for the shower when his phone lit up. 

_You gotta come save me. They’re gonna kill me if you don’t come._

_The fuck?_ Tora threw the towel down. _This can’t be real. Goliath is dead._

_I don’t know how much longer I can hide. My battery’s gonna die._

He looked closer. The number wasn’t Goliath’s, it was Poppy’s, the old number he hadn’t had the heart to delete. 

_Jesus. Fuck._ Urgency poured through him. _I have to go. I have to—_ It didn’t make sense, but the feeling, insistent, propelled him forward. Tora grabbed a jacket, ran out the door. 

He pulled up in front of the familiar apartment building. 

_Outside_ , he texted but didn’t press send when he saw the familiar figure standing under a tree across the street. The same tree where he had once installed a motion sensitive camera. He approached, warily. 

“I got your text. What’s going on?”

Poppy was in shadow. “I need to show you.” 

Tora halted as she stepped forward. She was wearing the same clothes she had on when she stood outside of Alice’s, when she asked him for her soul back. 

“Show me what?” he said. 

She gestured above them. “Do you remember?” Her voice was transparent, like the wind. “There, on my balcony. It’s where you left me.” 

“Yeah, I remember. There was that fucking close call. You were almost killed. I couldn’t handle it. I knew I’d been right before, on Regina’s Peak. I’m not supposed to be in your life, I bring trouble wherever I go. I bring danger to you, all around you.” He looked up at the railing five stories up, his black hair whipping around his face. “That’s where I let you go, for good. Hardest fucking thing I’ve ever done.” 

She stared at him, her eyes wide, unsmiling. He flinched. 

“Don’t fucking look at me like that! I let you go for you, all for you, so you can be safe! It hurt me, it fucking killed me, but now you can have a good life!”

“Let’s go then, Tora,” she said, taking his hand. “Let’s go see my good life.” 

They stepped forward and stood in her small apartment. He looked, confused, between the Poppy holding his hand, and the Poppy crouched on the floor. She knelt before a low table, typing on her laptop. 

“What is going on?” he whispered. 

“This is me, Tora. Me, right now, without you. How do I look?” Poppy dropped his hand and moved behind herself, stroked her hand over the other Poppy’s hair. 

He examined her closely. She looked thinner and tired. Her clothes, simple tank top, and shorts looked washed out somehow, as if the colors had drained from her. She typed quickly under the yellow lamplight, concentrating, her face tinted blue from the glow of her screen. The corners of her apartment were drowned in darkness. 

“What are you doing?” Tora asked. 

The spirit Poppy replied. “Applying for jobs. I’m trying to get out of Narin City. It’s too painful to be here, and I don’t feel safe.”

Tora’s head snapped up to her, while the other Poppy continued to type. 

“The fuck wouldn’t you feel safe? You feeling safe is the whole reason I cut our lives in two.”

“I tried to move on, Tora. Like you said. I saw other men, tried to date. What do you think that was like? Were they timid? Were they mean? Did they try to push themselves on me? Did they listen to me?”

Tora’s jaw tightened, his hands balled into fists. The publishing job had been her life’s dream. What would it take for her to walk away from that? 

“You don’t have any answers because you took the easy way out. You left. It’s the big city, what do you think happens? You don’t know if I went out to clubs, or who I met, or what they told me, because you just walked away and called it good.” 

She stepped back, her body stiff. The Poppy on the floor was reading what she had typed. She pressed enter. 

“Well, it wasn’t good. It was a lot of things, Tora, but it was not good at all.” 

They stared at each other, saying nothing. The Poppy between them stopped typing. She closed her laptop and took a ragged breath. The spirit Poppy continued, her gaze somber.

“Who am I dating now, Tora? Can you guess? I think you may know him.” 

Tora didn’t say anything, didn’t breathe. On the floor, Poppy’s phone beeped. She picked it up and began texting. 

“He got interested in me after you dropped me. He seems to like going after your seconds. He followed me for a while, then when he was sure you were done with me, he made his move. He’s very charming. I warmed to him quickly, the way he took care of me, it felt a little bit like you. He told me he works in security. I backgrounded him and the firm he claimed to work for came up legit. Do you know who I’m talking about, Tora? The boyfriend who makes me feel uneasy?”

Tora’s jaw clenched to the point where he could hear his teeth grinding together. On the floor, Poppy stopped texting and made a call. Through the phone, a faint male voice answered. 

“Adrean? Oh, I’m glad you’re still up,” she smiled. 

Tora’s face contorted. “Fucking Scharch,” he stated flatly. 

“Exactly. He’s fascinating and exciting, and a little mysterious, and he treats me so well, like all he wants is what I want. What girl could resist? But there’s something, something that sets off my radar. It’s as if at the center of his heart there’s a cold place I can’t reach. It’s his lies, Tora. I sense them. He’s always covered the tattoo, but I can sense his lies. 

"But I second guess myself, Tora. I tell myself not to be unfair to him. He treats me so well, I feel guilty about not trusting him when he’s given me no reason to doubt. I talked to my grandma about these feelings and she wants me to come home, but I feel so tired, Tora. Everything in Narin reminds me of you. What I can never have. All I want to do right now is find someplace far away and new and start over.”

She looked sadly at herself on the phone. “I suspect my boyfriend won’t take this well, so I haven’t worked up the courage to tell him. ” 

“You know I always have time for you. Come over,” Poppy said into her phone.

Spirit Poppy looked at him. ‘What do you think, Tora? Will he take it well? Will he understand and let me go?”

Tora’s heart squeezed. “Get me the fuck out of here,” he said to her. 

She took his hand, and they stood next to his car, outside of the apartment. 

“Well, Tora? Do you like seeing my good life? My safe, happy life? Is it what you imagined?” 

Poppy’s arms were folded, tense across her abdomen, the wind pulled at her hair. 

A sleek black sports car pulled up, and the gate rolled open. Tora felt like someone had stepped on his chest, like there wasn’t enough air in the world. His fists clenched. He spun to face her. 

“Why the fuck are you showing me this? Is this supposed to make me feel—what? Like a fuck up? Like a bigger fuck up than I already was? Mission fucking accomplished.” 

She stepped up to him, put a small hand in the center of his chest. He stilled. 

“I’m showing you this because it’s not too late, Tora. I’m showing you this because I want my soul back. I’m showing you this so you can make your choice. Again. Choose again.” 

He reached for her but she was receding. The shadows stretched around him. His body convulsed forward, toward her, and with a sudden sense of falling, he jerked awake. His apartment. Just a dream. Another fucking dream. 

This time he didn’t get water. He pushed his earbuds in, cranked up his music, and pulled his heaviest blanket around him. 

_No more dreams_ , he decided.


	3. By Ann_Jay009

Tora stood in the middle of a forest, shirtless and disoriented. The moon was bright, almost full. The grass was cool and moist under his bare feet. He tried to remember how he got here. Whatever ‘here’ was. 

He ran his hand through his hair and groaned. His body felt sluggish as if he had a hangover. He knew that wasn’t the case since he had sworn off alcohol, but that nightmare about Poppy and Scharch had almost pushed him over the edge. He rubbed his hand over his face. Was any of it real? He looked at his cell phone and frowned. Blank. 

_Where are all my messages?_

He had texted Gyu after he had left her for the last time, asking him to keep an eye on Poppy for him. Gyu was his only connection to Poppy now. He couldn’t confront Scharch for fear of starting a war within the clan. He couldn’t approach Poppy if she was Scharch’s. 

He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, his phone crack under the pressure. He had never felt so powerless. 

_What choice do I have left?_

“That’s the question, isn’t it, _Big Bro?_ ” 

Tora turned around, his heart beating wildly. He’d recognized that snarky voice anywhere.

“Scharch,” he snarled.

“My, my, look at how Balthuman’s mighty weapon has fallen,” Scharch said, slowly walking around Tora, sizing him. “No wonder she was so wild in my arms. She needed the firm hand of a real man, not a fucking pussy.”

Tora growled and punched Scharch’s jaw. Scharch only laughed. 

_He isn’t real, this isn’t real. It’s a dream, only a dream. I made the right choice, she’s safe._

Tora repeated this over and over, willing himself to wake up. 

“You still believe it was your choice, _Bro_? How cute you are.” Scharch said in a sickenly sweet voice. He shook his head in mock pity. “Poor Tora, always wanting to save everyone. Always choosing the wrong path.” Scharch looked at him with an evil glint in his eyes. “Others paid the ultimate price because of your mistakes. Because you didn’t listen, you left when they needed you the most. Joe, Goliath… Poppy.”

Tora blanched as he heard the last name. During his last vision or nightmare, Poppy had told him she was looking for a way out of Narin. She told him she didn’t feel safe. She hadn't wanted to tell Scharch. She didn't know what he would do. 

_No! No, no, no no, no!! This can’t be happening!_

“Oh, it has happened, Tora dear. You know me. You know I love a good chase. Makes my blood boil,” Scharch said, a devilish grin splitting his face, teeth gleaming in the moonlight. 

“Where is she?” Tora yelled. “What have you done to her?”

“Haven’t you figured out where we are yet?” Scharch asked Tora while spreading his arms. “Don’t you recognize the woods around Moonbright station, _Bro_? I’ll give you one guess as to what happened.”

Tora stood, silent. He didn’t want to give Scharch, even nightmare Scharch, satisfaction. He didn’t need to look around, he knew where he was now. The place where Poppy’s world had collided with his. The place he hadn’t been able to reach in time to save Goliath. 

“Fuck, you’re stubborn. If you don’t want to guess, maybe I’ll let _her_ show you.” Scharch sighed, pointing to something behind Tora.

 _No, I won’t turn around. I won’t play his sick game,_ thought Tora, terrified of what was behind him.

“Pissed me the fuck off when she tried to sneak out of town,” Scharch said. “Trying to leave _me_ , the little bitch. You know I couldn’t let that happen. Fucking hurt my feelings,” he snickered.

_“Tora.”_

Upon hearing her voice, Tora turned. Pale and spectral as the moonlight, Poppy hovered over a pile of dirt that was man-made. He slowly walked toward her. 

_“It’s too late now, Tora,”_ Poppy’s raspy voice said. “ _You left me. You weren’t there to protect me.”_

He raised his arm and tried to touch her. She mimicked his movement and, as their hands touched, she slowly faded away.

“Too late, motherfucker!” Scharch laughed maniacally as he also faded away. 

“I WAS SUPPOSED TO SAVE YOU!” Tora yelled at the sky as he fell to his knees, tears rolling down his face. He collapsed on the fresh grave, gasping for air as he gave in to his pain. 

****

_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_

Tora jerked awake. Underneath him was hard and cold cement. He was on his apartment’s floor. He tried to get up, but felt dizzy. His throat was dry, his body aching everywhere. He touched the floor, expecting the pile of dirt to appear in front of him. _Poppy! Oh God, where are you?_ He grabbed his phone and saw Gyu’s last message sent 15 minutes ago.

 _“She’s on the run, Big Bro_ . _A taxi picked her up. I wasn’t able to follow, kept Scharch distracted. I can’t track her, she didn’t take her phone.”_

Tora’s heart stopped. He knew where she was going. Moonbright. He knew if she reached the train station, it would be the last place she would see. He had to reach her first. Stop his nightmare from becoming reality. _15 minutes… it’s not too late, I can make it in time._ He fought the dizziness. Nothing would stop him from leaving, not even a fucking flu. He grabbed his keys and rushed outside only to run into a warm body. A short body. He looked down, not believing his eyes. 

“Poppy?” he asked hesitantly. 

He reached to touch her hair, his hand shaking. But he closed his fist, lowering his arm. He remembered his last nightmare. Remembered how she faded away when they touched. Was this another dream? Was she here to tell him he was too late? He closed his eyes.

 _Is this my personal hell? Will I relive over and over the consequences of my choices? Will I always relive how I pushed her to her end? Please, oh god please, make it stop! I’m not strong enough to go through this again. Please…_

She took his hand in hers. She felt so real, so warm. He opened his eyes. _I need to see her again. I don’t care if it’s a fuckin’ dream, vision or what the hell this is. I just want to see and touch her…_

“I need your help, Tora,” Poppy said, tears rolling down her face. “I know you didn’t want to see me again, but I messed up and I don’t know where to go.”

Tora didn’t hesitate, he brought her inside and pulled her into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around him, crying harder.

“S’ok Bobby, you’re safe. I won’t let him hurt you,” he told her, once she had calmed down. 

“I’m sorry, Tora,” she said, sniffling. “I tried to forget you. I tried to move on, but it only made things worse. I know you don’t want me, but maybe I can hire you to be my bodyguard until I resolve things with Adrean?”

Tora clenched his jaw upon hearing Scharch’s name. 

“No.”

“Please, Tora…” Poppy begged, her voice quivering.

“I don’t want to be your bodyguard, Poppy.” Tora lifted her chin and kissed her. “I want to be your boyfriend again. I’m sorry I made it so hard on you. Please forgive me, sweetheart.”

The weight on his heart slowly lifted as she kissed him back. He would deal with Scharch. He knew how to make people disappear without a trace. He didn’t care about the consequences. He only cared that she was here with him. _I’ll never let you go again..._


End file.
